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moldmakingtechnology.com 37 Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Spain. Pockets of stronger growth are mingled in with stagnant or declining output elsewhere. Growth remains largely export-led, although there has been a small resurgence in domestic demand in France, Spain and Germany. Private invest- ment, however, has still not rebounded across the Euro area. Longer-term concerns about productivity and competitiveness linger, despite important reforms in several countries. The weakness is exacerbated by deepening regional disparities in economic performance. Italy, Finland and the Netherlands languish in effective recessions, while Poland, Germany and the UK move forward amid improving fiscal balances and rising consumer confidence. This will invariably create tensions, espe- Domestic demand in the Euro area has finally stabilized and moved into positive territory, with net exports also helping to end the recession. High unemployment and debt, low invest- ment, persistent output gaps, tight credit and financial frag- mentation in the Euro area still serve as drags on the recovery, however. Downside risks arise from incomplete reforms, exter- nal factors and even lower inflation. Since early 2011, Eurozone quarterly GDP growth has not once surpassed 0.3 percent. It grew just 0.8 percent over the last four quarters. Fiscal austerity clearly weighs on overall spending, and private demand contin- ues to suffer from consumer malaise. Although the Euro area has finally emerged from recession, the overall European recovery is uneven across countries and sectors. The Euro area includes Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Chart courtesy of World Economic Forum and World Bank and Heritage Foundation. Countries are sequenced according to the World Economic Forum 2014 ranking. Orange represents rank- ing deterioration, green signifes ranking improvement and no color represents no change. Country 2014 2009 2014 2009 2014 2009 Switzerland 1 2 29 21 4 9 Finland 3 8 12 14 18 17 Germany 4 7 21 25 19 25 Sweden 6 4 14 17 20 26 Netherlands 8 8 28 26 16 12 UK 10 12 10 6 14 10 Norway 11 15 9 10 32 28 Denmark 15 3 5 5 10 8 Austria 16 14 30 27 23 23 Belgium 17 19 36 19 35 20 Luxembourg 22 25 60 50 15 15 France 23 16 38 31 69 64 Ireland 28 22 15 7 9 4 Iceland 32 20 13 11 24 14 Estonia 35 32 22 22 11 13 Spain 42 29 52 49 49 29 Poland 44 53 45 76 51 82 Turkey 48 63 69 59 64 75 Czech Republic 48 33 75 75 26 36 Lithuania 49 44 17 28 21 30 Italy 51 49 65 65 86 76 Portugal 52 43 31 48 70 53 Latvia 57 54 24 29 42 45 Bulgaria 58 76 58 45 61 56 Slovenia 62 42 33 54 73 68 Hungary 63 62 55 41 50 44 Romania 76 68 73 47 62 65 Slovakia 79 46 49 36 58 37 Greece 91 67 72 96 119 8 CHART 1 World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index World Bank (WB) Doing Business Index Heritage Foundation Economic Freedom Index